meeting Christ in the liturgy library

The whole of the Advent liturgy is one long appeal for the coming of our Savior. The Church
takes up the heartfelt cries for the coming of the Messiah which echo all through the Old
Testament, and causes us to repeat them with her ever more urgently as Christmas draws near.
Of course, Our Savior has come, but we still await him. For ourselves and for our own times we
await the graces of redemption and holiness which are to transform our human lives to the
likeness of his. For all the succeeding generations of mankind we await, at the end of time, the
glorious return of Christ, the redeemer of the world, who in his wake will lead into the kingdom of
his Father all the elect.

Though already present in his Church, Christ's reign is
nevertheless yet to be fulfilled "with power and great
glory" by the king's return to earth. (Lk 21:27; cf. Mt
25:31) This reign is still under attack by the evil powers,
even though they have been defeated definitively by
Christ's Passover. (Cf. 2 Thess 2:7) Until everything is
subject to him, "until there be realized new heavens
and a new earth in which justice dwells, the pilgrim
Church, in her sacraments and institutions, which
belong to this present age, carries the mark of this
world which will pass, and she herself takes her place
among the creatures which groan and travail yet and
await the revelation of the sons of God." (Second
Vatican Council, Lumen gentium 48. 3; cf. 2 Pet 3. 13; Rom 8.
19-22; 1 Cor 15. 28.) That is why Christians pray, above
all in the Eucharist, to hasten Christ's return by saying
to him: (Cf. 1 Cor 11. 26; 2 Pet 3. 11-12.)Marana tha!
"Our Lord, come!" (1 Cor 16. 22; Rev 22. 17, 20) (CCC 671)

I look forward to meeting you here again next week as,
together, we "meet Christ in the liturgy"---Father Cusick

Jesus testifies to himself both through his words and his works. He
reveals the kingdom to all who are open to see and to hear the truth.
The disciples of John come to him to hear his testimony. Because
they are open to the truth, they will hear and believe. They will know
the power and peace of the kingdom. The Catechism addresses
these signs of the kingdom in Christ.

The signs worked by Jesus attest that the Father has
sent him. They invite belief in him. (Jn 5:36) To those
who turn to him in faith, he grants what they ask.(Mk
5:25-34) So miracles strengthen faith in the One who
does his Father's works; they bear witness that he is
the Son of God. (Jn 10:31-38) But his miracles can also
be occasions for "offense", (Mt 11:6) they are not
intended to satisfy people's curiosity or desire for
magic. Despite his evident miracles some people
reject Jesus; he is even accused of acting by the
power of demons. (Jn 11:47-48) (CCC 548)

Let us accept the gift of signs according to the Father's will, never
taking offense at his marvelous providence, in which he promises not
a "hair of our heads" will be harmed. Let us wait upon the Lord in
patience as we ask for all our needs in prayer, confident that he will
never fail to reveal the kingdom to us in Jesus Christ our Lord.

I look forward to meeting you here again next week as,
together, we "meet Christ in the liturgy," Father Cusick

Rejoicing increases as Christmas approaches. On the third Sunday the altar
with its flowers, the rose-colored vestments and the playing of the organ all
give emphasis to this increasing joy.

Epistle: Philippians 4. 4-7; Gospel: St. John 1: 19-28

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Look to the coming of the Lord, "prepare the way of the Lord", as
does John, humbly proclaiming, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who
takes away the sin of the world!" (Jn 1:29) This phrase, in the
Latin, "Ecce Agnus Dei, ecce qui tollit peccata mundi," has been
handed down in the sacred liturgy, proclaimed by the priest while
holding up the sacred Host, the Body and Blood of Christ, for the
adoration of the faithful. John the Baptist, man of holy humility and
bold proclamation, demands that we turn our eyes to Christ, who
"takes away the sin of the world." Wholehearted desire for Christ
begins with honest acknowledgment of our sinfulness, "the sin of the
world": both original sin, ours by "origin" from our first parents, and
personal sins.

The consequences of original sin and of all men's
personal sins put the world as a whole in the sinful
condition aptly described in St. John's expression, 'the
sin of the world.' (Jn 1:29) (CCC 407)

"This dramatic situation of 'the whole world [which]
is in the power of the evil one' (1 Jn 5:19) makes
man's life a battle: 'The whole of man's history has
been the story of dour combat with the powers of evil,
stretching, so our Lord tells us, from the very dawn of
history until the last day. Finding himself in the midst of
the battlefield man has to struggle to do what is right,
and it is at great cost to himself, and aided by God's
grace, that he succeeds in achieving his own inner
integrity.' (Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et spes, 37, art.
2)" (CCC 409)

Much of what ails the world today is rooted in an erroneous view of
the human person, a view which has omitted the reality of original sin.
Two effects remain in man after baptism, flowing from the sin of our
first parents: a darkened intellect and a weakened will. Unless we
acknowledge this fact, we struggle to love Christ in vain and deny he
is God. The Lord has told us, "Without me you can do nothing." If
we believe that we can accomplish anything good without Christ, we
deny him, we deny the need for salvation, we claim to save
ourselves.

The doctrine of original sin, closely connected with
that of redemption by Christ, provides lucid
discernment of man's situation and activity in the
world. By our first parents' sin, the devil has acquired
a certain domination over man, even though man
remains free. Original sin entails 'captivity under the
power of him who thenceforth had the power of
death, that is, the devil.' (Council of Trent (1546): DS 1511;
cf. Heb. 2:14.) Ignorance of the fact that man has a
wounded nature inclined to evil gives rise to serious
errors in the areas of education, politics, social action,
(Cf. John Paul II, CA, 25.) and morals. (CCC 407)

The judges, the courts, and small lobbying groups with large bank
accounts today demand, for example, that the label "marriage" be
applied to something other than a lifelong union between man and
woman alone. This has become possible because the world has
become unmoored from rootedness in God which alone can guide
man and woman to an authentic understanding of themselves, of each
other, of God's will and plan, and, in Christ, of the possibility of
holiness and salvation.

Adrift without Christ, the individual is left only with the false gods of
desire and self-will. Many divorced and remarried persons, rendering
their own opinions as magisterial, re-admit themselves to Communion
in violation of the express teaching of the Church that each marriage
be submitted to the judgment of the Church and that men and women
have their marriages blessed by the Church before participating
further in the sacramental life. Many today are their own
magisterium, rendering the truth of God mere opinion, equal to the
scientific theories of the day, or the preference of the majority. Denial
of the "sins of the world", both original and personal, is a fatal error.
Life is in Christ alone, and Christ alone can exchange sin and death
for life.

Our Church is a prophet, preparing the way for Christ both at
Advent and the end of time, guiding us as we walk the paths of our
vocations through the world. The Church is Mother and Teacher,
"Mater et Magistra" as Pope John XXIII declared. The Church is
such because of, and for, the will of Christ the Lord. The Church
does not offer mere opinion when she opens and explains the Word
of God, handed down to us through Scripture and Tradition. The
Church teaches with the authority of God Himself. "I give you the
gift of the Holy Spirit", "I will be with you always", "He who
hears you, hears me."

John the Baptist guides us in Advent, a people who look to Christ
alone to take away our sins and to open heaven for us when he
comes again in glory. Christ is the "Lamb of God", to whom we
confidently go to receive the fullness of God's mercy. Ecce Agnus
Dei, ecce qui tollit peccata mundi. Go humbly, and with a sense of
urgency, to receive him who unburdens us of the weight of death and
shameof sin and gives us in exchange his unending, divine life.

I look forward to meeting you here again next week as,
together, we "meet Christ in the liturgy"---Father Cusick

The grace of redemption poured forth for the whole human race is
ours in baptism, by which original sin is washed away. Unlike the
baptism of St. John in the Jordan which occurred before Christ's act
of redemption on the Cross, ours is received through the eternal
priesthood of Christ realized and perfected on the Cross, and
therefore gives the real gift of God's grace.

Jesus' public life begins with his baptism by John in the
Jordan. (Cf. Lk 3. 23; Acts 1. 22) John preaches "a
baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of
sins." (Lk 3. 3) A crowd of sinners (Cf. Lk 3. 10-14; Mt 3.
7; 21. 32) --tax collectors and soldiers, Pharisees and
Sadducees, and prostitutes--come to be baptized by
him. "Then Jesus appears." The Baptist hesitates,
but Jesus insists and receives baptism. Then the Holy
Spirit, in the form of a dove, comes upon Jesus and a
voice from heaven proclaims, "This is my beloved
Son." (Mt 3. 13-17) This is the manifestation
("Epiphany") of Jesus as Messiah of Israel and Son of
God. (CCC 535)

Only God can make us worthy of God. Jesus Christ, Lord and God,
effects our adoption as sons of God for the first time when he washes
away the stain of original sin and then fills us with the gift of God's life
and love in our sacramental baptism.

I look forward to meeting you here again next week as,
together, we "meet Christ in the liturgy", Father Cusick